ReviewSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2010
Muscle carnosine metabolism and beta-alanine supplementation in relation to exercise and training.
Review in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 237 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of different dietary supplements on athletic performance in soccer players: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Creatine and β-Alanine Co-Supplementation on Exercise Performance and Body Composition: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Different Dietary Supplements on Swimming Performance: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of Beta-Alanine Supplementation on Physical Performance in Aerobic-Anaerobic Transition Zones: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of β-Alanine Supplementation on Subjects Performing High-Intensity Functional Training.Nutrients · 2024Trial
- Beta-Alanine Supplementation and Sport Climbing Performance.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Space Flight Diet-Induced Deficiency and Response to Gravity-Free Resistive Exercise.Nutrients · 2020Trial
- The effect of two β-alanine dosing strategies on 30-minute rowing performance: a randomized, controlled trial.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2018Trial
- β-Alanine supplementation increased physical performance and improved executive function following endurance exercise in middle aged individuals.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2018Trial
- β-Alanine ingestion increases muscle carnosine content and combat specific performance in soldiers.Amino acids · 2015Trial
- The effect of β-alanine and NaHCO3 co-ingestion on buffering capacity and exercise performance with high-intensity exercise in healthy males.European journal of applied physiology · 2014Trial
- Effects of sprint training combined with vegetarian or mixed diet on muscle carnosine content and buffering capacity.European journal of applied physiology · 2011Trial
- An Engineered β-Aminopeptidase With Better Product Selectivity for L-Carnosine Production.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2026Article
- Mechanistic Integration of Beta-Alanine-Carnosine Buffering and Glutamine Metabolism in Exercise-Induced Muscle-Brain Crosstalk: Implications for Aging, Neurodegeneration, and Cognitive Decline.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Combined L-carnosine and L-tyrosine supplementation as an ergogenic strategy for physical and cognitive performance under fatigue in professional football players.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Enhancing effects of diphenyl diselenide and β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate combined with exercise on neuroprotection, memory, mitochondrial function, muscle function, and inflammation regulation in older adults and age-related diseases.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Effects of Feed Restriction on Growth Performance, Nutrient Utilisation, Biochemical Parameters, and the Caecum Microbiota and Metabolites in Rabbits.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Structural annotation of full-scan MS data: A unified solution for LC-MS and MS imaging analyses.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Investigation of Potential Food Intake Biomarkers by LC-MS/MS: Suitability Under Conditions Close to Everyday Live.Molecular nutrition & food research · 2025Article
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Carnosine is a dipeptide with a high concentration in mammalian skeletal muscle. It is synthesized by carnosine synthase from the amino acids L-histidine and beta-alanine, of which the latter is the rate-limiting precursor, and degraded by carnosinase. Recent studies have shown that the chronic oral ingestion of beta-alanine can substantially elevate (up to 80%) the carnosine content of human skeletal muscle. Interestingly, muscle carnosine loading leads to improved performance in high-intensity exercise in both untrained and trained individuals. Although carnosine is not involved in the classic adenosine triphosphate-generating metabolic pathways, this suggests an important role of the dipeptide in the homeostasis of contracting muscle cells, especially during high rates of anaerobic energy delivery. Carnosine may attenuate acidosis by acting as a pH buffer, but improved contractile performance may also be obtained by improved excitation-contraction coupling and defence against reactive oxygen species. High carnosine concentrations are found in individuals with a high proportion of fast-twitch fibres, because these fibres are enriched with the dipeptide. Muscle carnosine content is lower in women, declines with age and is probably lower in vegetarians, whose diets are deprived of beta-alanine. Sprint-trained athletes display markedly high muscular carnosine, but the acute effect of several weeks of training on muscle carnosine is limited. High carnosine levels in elite sprinters are therefore either an important genetically determined talent selection criterion or a result of slow adaptation to years of training. beta-Alanine is rapidly developing as a popular ergogenic nutritional supplement for athletes worldwide, and the currently available scientific literature suggests that its use is evidence based. However, many aspects of the supplement, such as the potential side effects and the mechanism of action, require additional and thorough investigation by the sports science community.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.